


Man on a Mission

by Danganphobia



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Black Friday but Worse, Breaking Up & Making Up, Canon Compliant, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Comedy, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hijinks & Shenanigans, M/M, Nonbinary Kurapika, Other, Party, Somewhat, Surprises, The Gang Goes Through Christmas Shopping Horror Stories, Tree Farm Adventures, he is going THRU IT, i wanna give my favorite tired dilf in training HIS FREETIME, in which kurapika actually makes time for their friends and shows the fuck up when they need them, kurapika is loved, maybe after yorknew/greed island arc, takes place somewhere in the canon but not following that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:47:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28295529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Danganphobia/pseuds/Danganphobia
Summary: In which Leorio attempts to make up with Kurapika after their last thousandth fall-out by enlisting the help of Gon and Killua. The three musketeers embark on a journey of the ultimate task: Throwing a surprise Christmas party for Kurapika.And then shit goes left when they show up earlier than intended.
Relationships: Gon Freecs/Killua Zoldyck, Kurapika/Leorio Paladiknight
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	Man on a Mission

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much to **[Tack](http://twitter.com/TackiestFire)** for fueling my ideas with your terrific chaotic ones in the gc, and for Ibee and Bella for indulging and endorsing the madness of us sharing stellar clown-to-clown communication with each other. I wouldn't have even STARTED this fic and finished it without your support!!! Appreciate y'all so much. We've binged HXH together for the past few weeks and for a merry shitscram special I wanted to write a very crack-fueled fluff fest christmas-episode piece because these bastards have grown on me.
> 
> Consider this as my gift to you three!!!

Leorio was in his office when he spontaneously came up with the idea. He asked Killua and Gon to come over because some days he was quite too busy to leave and let them shelter themselves in his lovely, comfortable office.

He loved them to death but honestly it was like letting two gremlins inside his peaceful quiet space because the two boys came up with a new chaotic game to play every visit, it’s always something along the lines of roleplaying. Gon said it was Warrior Cats, or something. He’s not really paying attention until one of his cup holders for his pens got knocked over when the two boys wrestled each other.

“Jesus—” Leorio didn’t mind if it were one or two tiny little decors he had for his desk broken, because he’s already invested hundreds of dollars into _buying new ones_ for the sole purpose of replacing them, it was when his precious picture frames he had of the four of them was at risk of getting knocked over. “How many times I have to tell you guys my office is not a playground?!”

“Oh!” Gon hopped up on the bookshelf. Which in fact, was quite a tall one that he was small enough to stand on. “Sorry Leorio!”

“Get down!” Killua shouted, “you can’t leave me stranded down here by myself!”

“You can finish them off on your own! You’re strong!”

 _“Both of you sit down_.” Leorio demanded, “for _two_ seconds, or else I’m kicking you out of my damn office.”

He sat back in his chair and sighed because the place was already in a disarray and he had to fix it everytime they left. They sat on the chairs near his desk and once they were calm Leorio stood up and slammed his hands on his desk.

“I got it.” He said.

“Got what?”

“Guess who called me the other day?”

“Your mom.”

“Ye— well _no_!” Leorio barked, Killua snickered loudly at the answer to his comment. “It’s not my mom!”

“I get it.” Killua smirked, “your mom called _me_.”

“Really?” Gon asked, eyes blinking wide. Killua nudged Gon in the arm and cackled. The other boy wasn’t picking up on the joke.

“NO!” Leorio was about to rip his hair out in frustration, “this isn’t a hard guess! It’s someone we know!”

“Do you know updog?” Killua asked.

Leorio paused for a moment, “what’s updog?”

“Nothin’ much.” Killua grinned. “I swear it works every time.”

“Gah!” Leorio sat back down in defeat, and Killua and Gon exchanged mischievous glances, giggling. “Kurapika.” he said.

Their smiles vanished quite quickly.

“Who?” Killua arched a brow.

 _“Kurapika_?!” Gon gasped.

“No way.” Killua scoffed, “Kurapika never answers their phone, let alone calls anybody. That’s bull.”

“Nuh uh.” Leorio denied, “got a call from 'em two days ago.”

“Nice try.” Killua said, “but last time I checked you guys broke up again.”

“That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t call me!” Leorio exclaimed, bashful. That would also be a lie. Kurapika had all the more reasons not to answer his phone due to a stupid argument they had once like a year ago that was spontaneously brought up. Leorio would brag to Gon and Killua that Kurapika would come running back to call him and apologize, and then he’d end up waiting a full month before Leorio started blowing their phone up with calls and texts.

 _Any second now_ , he said, _they're totally gonna call me back and tell me how sorry they are,_ he said. _Boy, you wrong as Hell_ , Killua told him.

...Maybe that’s why Leorio had to call them first for Kurapika to bother picking up the phone at the very last ring.

“They'd at least call us if they called you first.” Killua crossed his arms over his head. “We all know how Leorio’s Silent Treatment™ goes like."

“Maybe that’s because I’m special.” Leorio said, "also how the Hell did you say that out loud?"

“So are we!” Killua argued, “we’re just as much as their friends to them as Leorio is, right?”

"Yeah but Leorio and Kurapika are like, together." Gon clarified.

"They broke up like a gazillion times!"

" _I'm still special_." Leorio claimed in triumph.

"How many times have you had to call them before they called you back?" Killua frowned. He smiled smugly when Leorio's face paled.

"Haha! Like, maybe…" he coughed, " _not much_." He lied.

"Let me see your phone then." Killua said knowingly.

"No way!"

"You had to beg them to come back." Killua grinned.

"I don't have to. Like I said," Leorio huffed, folding his arms. " _They_ called _me_ back."

"So you didn't call them first?" Gon asked.

"That's not the point!"

"You're an afterthought, meaning they're probably still mad at you." Killua snorted, "haha you're in _deep shit_ man."

"Fine!" Leorio pulled his phone out and showed them himself, "you wanna see proof?!"

Through the heaps of failed call attempts there was a single call that was returned two days ago by none other than Kurapika.

Kurapika gave him three seconds to explain what the call was about before they hung up. So Leorio rushed to explain, quite arrogantly, that Killua and Gon are awaiting his return and he somewhat missed not being the only one to take care of the two of them because frankly, they’re going to drive him crazy if Kurapika didn’t come back.

The other day Killua said he’s eating his own kind for eating a pack of oreos and Gon smacked the whole thing out of his hand. Gon had also adopted a pet frog he named _Nog_ , claiming that he and Killua found it when they went fishing, and refused to release it back into the wild and kept insisting they could take care of it no matter how many times Leorio said no he’s not keeping a fucking _frog_ in his house, and Leorio went on a tangent about the shenanigans that Kurapika missed while they were gone, begging that they come back and give him another chance.

They'd have to _at least_ see Nog, because Gon was excited to show Kurapika when they returned. Nog had been with them for over a month now. Leorio’s now the sole co-owner of a pet frog. If he asked how any of this happened, beats him.

 _I’ll be back by Christmas_ was their only response before they hung up.

“See!” He shouted, “they called me back because they realized how much they missed me.”

“Missed us.” Killua clarified. “I doubt they’re doing it for you. Not after you got dumped right before they left.”

“Well guess what?” Leorio grinned smugly, “I got a plan. An awesome plan. A plan that’s gonna take them right off their feet.”

“What is it?” Gon asked.

“We’re gonna throw them a celebration. Christmas is just right around the corner. They said they’d be back by then.”

“Woohoo!” Gon jumped from his seat with excitement. “What’re we gonna do first?!”

“Say, can’t believe I’m asking this but…” Leorio stroked his chin, “how about you guys help me out with some… festive shopping?”

Killua folded his arms behind his head, “does that mean we get to get chocolate robots?”

“I buy those enough for you every single day!” Leorio barked.

“But I finished all of them.”

“ _You bought like a hundred of those!”_

“Killua really likes chocolate robots.” Gon said.

“Oh Jesus.” Leorio surrendered, “okay, fine. Chocolate robots. But only if you agree to help me and Gon out with shopping.”

“Hmm…” Killua made a smug face, “chocolate robots for… a week?”

“That’s too long.”

“Two weeks?”

“ _A week_.” Leorio compromised. This was why he had a Hunter’s License anyway. Running out of money shouldn’t be an issue, except, when he used his money for more important things like tuition, rent, and supplies, and not for replacing broken office decor, chocolate robots, keeping a frog, and more chocolate robots.

They set out to go shopping once Leorio had a day off. They first had to brainstorm a couple of ideas of what Kurapika liked. But unfortunately, they didn’t get very far in deciphering what went on in their brain alone. So Killua suggested that they get a bunch of things that they’d _think_ they liked.

“That’s brilliant.” Leorio said. “Okay, we’ll meet up back here once we find everything we need.”

“What do we need again?” Gon asked.

“Christmas decorations and gifts. I just… barely had time to get started on anything because I was so busy…"

"So we get to buy a tree?!" Gon and Killua's eyes sparkled. " _Awesome_!"

“If we can manage to get one here…” Leorio sighed out, “but we should leave the bigger stuff for later and get the smaller stuff now.”

“I doubt we’re gonna find anything.” Killua said. “Didn’t you hear? The biggest sales started up since last week. It’s like. A dumpster fire in stores everywhere. It’s way too late.”

“We’ve still gotta go shopping regardless!”

Killua showed Leorio a video on his phone of camera men aggressively recording a violent brawl going down in the middle of a store, hauling around yard decorations in their hands.

“Wow.” Gon said. “This is over sales?”

“Yep. One guy got knocked right out for the last sock. There’s also a video of someone getting choked with a garland.”

“A what?!” Leorio blanched.

“Even the security guards couldn’t stop it.”

Leorio whistled. “W-Well it can’t be that bad… right? We’re already at the mall.”

“I wish Kurapika were here with us.” Gon mumbled solemnly.

"You get to help me out with everything. Our goal is to make the house the best it could be but I can't do it without your help." Leorio convinced. “C’mon. A couple bruises ain’t nothing too serious.”

“Hey, Gon.” Killua smirked at him, “betcha can’t find anything faster than I can.”

Gon grinned, “betcha can’t beat me to the decor section first.”

“I totally can.”

“Ready?”

“Set…”

 _“GO_!”

Leorio didn’t even have to tell them to scram and get shopping. They were already racing each other around the store, probably the source of the pitch in volume in the entirety of this area of the mall as they shouted and laughed at the top of their lungs.

“And it’s just me.” He chuckled to himself. He needed to keep those two on a damn leash. How the Hell was Kurapika so calm whenever they were all together. Their two little friends blasted off the second they saw something that caught their eye and made a commotion over every little thing.

Gifts.

Who’s Leorio kidding?

Kurapika didn’t seem like the type to _care_ about gifts, but it’s the appreciation that counted. Leorio just wished they were a little more communicative when it came to their likes or wants. It’s like hitting a brick wall on that end. So they’re pretty much just ballparking.

First off, because everyone and their grandmother wanted to go shopping on this particular week. Perhaps it’s because they did their shopping last-minute as well, all the decorations Leorio was looking for was sold out.

He looked around, frowning. This can't be. _Already_?

"Um, excuse me." Leorio asked one of the employees carrying a few boxes around the store. "But if I'm not mistaken this is the aisle for _decorations_ , yes?"

Lily, the employee, nodded. "Yes it is sir!"

"H-Haha… so I just noticed that the whole shelf is empty. Are you expecting a new stock?"

"This is for gift wraps." Lily replied. "Unfortunately we had a slew of customers arrive and clear out the whole aisle yesterday I'm afraid."

" _The whole aisle_?!"

"Yes sir."

"S-Surely there's another area I can check in this store, right?"

"The whole decorations section has been cleared out." Lily answered.

"When are you expecting more?"

"Most likely not until Saturday."

"But Christmas is the day _before_. Friday."

"Your best bet is checking the one across from our store."

Leorio couldn't believe this. "Thank you." He sighed.

"Of course! We do have leftover gifts and ornaments although very scarce, so if you'd like to check those out you're welcome to!" Lily smiled, walking off with the boxes she juggled in her hands.

There's a reason why there's _leftovers_ to purchase. It's because they're the ugliest things Leorio had ever seen and he's sure no one would want these things on their front yard, in their house, or _on_ their house.

"Where are those two brats?" Leorio asked, grumbling to himself.

He came back to the front entrance, which was where they were supposed to meet up.

"Prepare to meet your maker!"

They aren't there. Instead, they're at one of the aisles sword fighting with large candy canes and laughing loudly.

"Take that!" Killua thrusted the candy cane at Gon, and he jumped on top of the shelf. Startling a family that passed by.

Leorio's blood boiled. These damn kids. He chased them down the aisle because they knocked things over and moved from one place to the next, pretending the store was their own battlefield for their stupid roleplaying sessions.

"I have you now!" Gon hit Killua with a surprise attack, hitting his back with the candy cane. Killua dramatically fell to the ground.

"Oof! You got me!"

" _What the Hell are you two doing_?!" Leorio shouted. "You're gonna get us kicked out!"

The two boys laughed, toppled over each other.

"We found these cool candy cane swords!" Gon told Leorio. "Let's buy them!"

"Did you find anything else while you were _sword fighting_?"

"Uhh…" Killua found an unsettling Christmas ornament on the floor and showed it to Leorio. It's supposed to be a person wearing pink overalls with a horse mask over their head. "I found _this_ …?"

"You guys didn't actually search for anything did you?"

"We did." Gon showed the candy canes, "these were the only items there anyway. At least the ones that weren't broken."

"We need more than that!"

"The whole row is empty."

"Huh?!" Leorio checked the shelves and it's just unwanted scraps. "You gotta be kidding me!"

"Can I get my chocolate robots now?" Killua asked impatiently.

"No!" Leorio refused, "alright…" he tapped his foot, thinking, "we can go to another store is all. We'll take the candy canes."

"Yes!" Gon cheered.

"But we need more stuff. We can't just use these."

Killua groaned. " _Fine_."

Leorio took them to the cash register. Killua was about to walk out with the candy canes but Leorio dragged him back and said they needed to pay for it before they walked out with it. The security guard was already annoyed with them, eyeing them down like hawks, and Killua only smiled wickedly. He knew what he was doing.

"I could've distracted him." Killua slid a pack of oreos over the counter.

"We're not thieves." Leorio told him.

They bought the candy canes. Gon and Killua took the candy canes and resumed their sword fighting as they left the store. Leorio checked his watch. They've been here for an hour now.

The store across from this one was the same issue. Everyone was so hellbent on stocking up on Christmas items that they've been all sold out.

"What the Hell?!" Leorio shouted, "we're only like _three days_ early for shopping!"

"Maybe we can just find another store!" Gon suggested. "We have the whole mall to look around! It’s _suuuuuper_ huge!”

Leorio stared ahead at the heaps of people wandering around on a crowded, busy afternoon. At the peak hours of the festive season, and suddenly, he wanted to kill himself.

Every store he went to, the best of the best were sold out. Somebody else already beat them to it, took the last one right before they showed up. Each time Gon and Killua would offer for them to buy the least appealing items on display because they had no choice but to pick up _something_.

“We can’t just leave the house bare!” Leorio lamented, “I took time out of my work schedule for this.”

“Look what I found.”

Gon’s a lifesaver. He’s holding up a reindeer, and Leorio blinked.

“You found something.”

“It was thrown somewhere in the corner over there.”

“Hey!” Killua shouted, “give us those Christmas lights!”

“What?!” The random customer Killua screamed at was certainly displeased to see some kid demand he give up his lights, “I chose this first! Scram!”

“I saw it first!”

“Finders keepers!”

“Killua it’s fine!” Leorio intervened, “we could easily find another—”

Killua already barged himself at the man and wrestled him for the Christmas lights. “Hey, Gon!” he called his companion, “help me out here!”

“Give him back those lights!” Gon instantly defended Killua, running to his side, “he found it first!”

“—y-you two little shits!”

Leorio laughed nervously at the frightened shoppers at the store they unfortunately decided to visit. He thought that there wouldn’t be too many desperate customers that went as far as to fight over a fucking nutcracker, but there were literal _crowds_ of fistfights because the best decorations on sale were _half-off_ it’s regular price. The sale of the store caught the attention of broke shoppers right away and the three had to barrel with other customers, practically trampling over each other, shoving, kicking, biting, in herds. If Killua and Gon hadn’t started hopping over people’s heads then the stampede would’ve drowned them completely.

Even Leorio had struggled to navigate the store. The words _FINAL SALE!_ In red bolded text slapped right on the window. It was as if the employers were _inviting_ everyone into a brawl as about five people barrelled out of the store holding average sized Christmas trees.

“On second thought.” Leorio watched the chaos unfold in the middle of the store. “...Should we just ditch going shopping for the day?”

“No way!” Killua raised his voice over all the commotion, “We didn’t finish our gift shopping for Kurapika!”

“It’s a no man’s land!” Leorio gestured _wildly_ , “how the heck are we gonna find anything?!”

“ _Fight our way through_!” Gon’s practically enthusiastic to jump through the heaps of people, meanwhile Killua preferred to viciously battle his way through the crowd. As much as Leorio wanted to avoid getting into fist fights, these people were making it extremely difficult. There’s people trying to go about their day until they get smacked in the face to grab a single pretty ribbon and have no choice but to throw hands. No wonder why the empty, sold-out stores were the least crowded.

The lines to the register were far too long to stand in without Leorio’s joints screaming for rest.

 _“Everything costs too much damn money.”_ He grumbled to himself. He was tempted to just walk out. About three people already did, managing to breach past the security detectors by getting rid of the tags. Clever ideas. But Killua and Gon managed to buy what they could, somehow, by cheating their way through the line. By the time Leorio got to the front, they were waiting outside with their dozens of shopping bags.

Each and every single one of them were a fucking mess apperance-wise, bruises and scars, tattered clothing, but Leorio was the only one who appeared to be exhausted.

“How about we go to a tree farm?” Leorio asked.

“ _Yeah!”_

Their energy scared him.

Gon took photos as Leorio struggled to cram all their bags, and two reindeers, into the car.

“Could you help me out?” Leorio asked.

“I’m taking pictures to send to Kurapika.” Gon answered.

Killua gnawed on a candy cane, flashing the peace sign. “Tell ‘em they’re missin’ out. We had the most epic time in there. I knocked someone’s tooth out.”

“I also had my first fight!”

“Did you win?”

“Obviously.”

“Alright, alright. I’m sure they’d love to see all the wonderful things we’ve fought tooth and nail for.” Leorio finally got his trunk to close with an aggravated slam. The whole car jerked from side to side. “We’re going to the tree farm now.”

“Woohoo!”

“I still want that chocolate robot.”

“Well guess what?” Leorio said, opening the car door, “those are probably sold out too.”

Killua stuck his tongue out at him.

The tree farm was an hour drive, so they stopped by for a fast food break at the drive thru. Fighting for your life was exerting and a quick way to get hungry, judging by the loud growling stomachs in the backseat.

“Look outside.” Gon pointed out the window, the towering trees surrounding them when they pulled into the farm, right off the nearest exit down the road.

“You kids ever been to a tree farm before?”

“Once!” Gon replied, “...but I barely remember if we did anything much.”

“Nope.” Killua said, but his eyes twinkled a little at Gon’s excitement, and he looked toward the passing trees with faint interest.

“Get ready to do a little bit of tree hunting.”

“Kinda feels like another part of the hunter exam, don’t it?” Gon asked.

“Heh, it does.” Killua chuckled. Leorio carefully parked the car at the entrance.

“It’s still nice out, maybe we’d have less of a hard time—” the swarm of people hanging out by the main barn made his jaw drop.

_“God you’ve gotta be kidding me!”_

“Race you to the trees!” Killua grinned widely at Gon. Neither of them are fazed at all, booking it down at the farm and roaming further into the forest.

“Wait up! You still need to suit up for this!” Leorio scrambled to shut the door, following them quickly before they got themselves lost. He hauled the tools they needed in his hands, keeping them in the trunk for when the special occasion came.

The boys claimed they didn’t need that.

“So how does this work?” Killua asked. “We find a tree we want and chop it down?”

“W-Well, yeah. But it’s not that simple.” Leorio pulled out a measuring tape from his suitcase, and stretched it to measure the height of the tree. “Decide on how big you want the tree. Make sure it’s big enough to keep in your house. My house isn’t that big, as far as you both know, so don’t pick something too big. But I’ll use this one as an example.” He put on a pair of gloves and lifted the saw, swinging at the bark and slowly, but strongly, cutting his way through. “Shake it, and once it’s loose, grab it.”

“Sounds easy.” Killua said. “Let me try.”

“I wanna try too!”

“Okay… what about that one?” Leorio cocked his head toward a smaller tree.

“Nah.” Killua pointed at a rather gigantic one.

“W-We shouldn’t chop down a tree like that…”

“So what? It’s a big forest.”

Leorio only wanted them to practice chopping the tree but not removing it entirely. Killua did in a flash, without using any tools, and the entire tree toppled over and fell right on Leorio. A few screams of concern coming from a group passing by. Leorio thought his life flashed before his eyes, but he managed to hold the tree with his hands as he fell to the ground.

“Oops.” Killua laughed sheepishly.

“Are you okay?!” Gon ran over to him. Leorio coughed. Blood running down the side of his scalp.

“I’m fine.” He grunted. “ _This is why I said_ , we should find a _smaller_ tree.”

“Uh…” Gon’s eyes landed on one that looked like the perfect size. “Can I see your measuring tape?”

Since he found their Christmas tree, Leorio said he could keep that one and bring it with them to the car.

The trip back home, Leorio wanted to crash in his bed and sleep for the next twenty years.

His house wasn’t anything special. It’s a one-story. He figured it’s a good upgrade from the flat he used to live in and didn’t want to buy a whole mansion when he was just one person. Somewhere not too far to rent out from his office where he could study more comfortably with more space, a bigger bed to sleep in, and a little cozier. Money couldn’t buy everything when you had a ton of debt to pay off eventually, so he’s riding out this luxury as much as he can.

“Now to get to decorating.”

“Hi Nog!” Gon wanted to visit the frog tank in the house first, where Nog’s keeping shelter. He cradled him in his hands, “did you miss me?”

Killua held up an a tiny santa hat, “guess what I found when we passed by the pet store earlier.”

Gon gasped, “how’d you get that?!”

“I have my ways.” Killua smiled proudly.

“Who’s finger did you have to bite off for it?” Leorio asked tiredly.

Killua only smiled wider. Gon was delighted to place it on Nog’s head.

 _I wonder too, Kurapika_ , Leorio thought to himself, _how I ended up the parent of a frog, too._ “Help me out with yard decorations. Then we have to get the tree inside.”

It’s easy to get Killua and Gon to do things if it meant moving on their feet. Leorio couldn’t hang up all these lights himself if his life depended on it. He’s fallen off the roof twice now, and the two boys easily chased each other around the roof, wrapping the lights over the ceiling and rounding all the corners needed until there was no room left.

Leorio decided he’d lift the tree inside himself. He came back outside and saw one of the reindeers hanging off a tree next to one that was perfectly placed on the ground. Killua and Gon smiled nervously, being the culprits.

He didn’t bother. He’d fix it later. They worked on spreading their bought decorations around the house. Lifting the wreath on the door, spreading the garlands on the staircase. They weren’t allowed to use them as rope vines to swing around the house without knocking down expensive furniture, but they do anyway. Wrap the ribbons around the walls, place the socks on the chimney. The rug was set on fire from adding too much wood and Leorio struggled to put it out with the fire extinguisher.

“Leave the hard stuff to me, okay?”

“Sorry I didn’t know how much wood to use.” Killua scratched the back of his head.

“Well you set the damn rug on fire!”

“Oops…”

They spent all night sprucing up the once lifeless house into a festive delight. Nog was freed from his tank. Gon spent some of the time sending more group photos to Kurapika. They left all the gifts they had prepared for them under the tree, but they hadn’t finished the rest of their decorating spree because they’d passed out in Leorio’s bed out of sheer exhaustion. The remaining decorations left unfinished.

Little did they know Kurapika ended up showing up _the morning after_ their long adventure.

Leorio’s eyes twitched at a knock on the door. He heard heavy breathing next to him, and two bodies cuddled right under his arms.

A Santa hat Killua put on his head from earlier slipped off, they snagged it at the store and placed it on him while he was making them eggnog as a reward for helping him out for the night, and he promised Killua he’d pick up those chocolate robots the first thing tomorrow morning before they got back to work. The crust in his eyes and the heavy exertion made Leorio go back to sleep.

“Shut the fuck up.” Killua mumbled tiredly. Gon groaned, shifting until he faced the other side.

There’s another knock on the door. “Hello?”

“Who is it?” Leorio gruffed. His voice roughened from sleep.

“I don’t know.” Killua grumbled. “Make it go away… I’m so tired…”

Leorio turned his head into the pillow the three of them were sharing. His eyes snapped open, and he shot up. He let out a scream so loud it woke Killua and Gon up as well.

“FUCK!” His eyes were as wide as saucers, bloodshot. “It’s Kurapika.”

“What?” Killua rubbed his eyes.

“Oh!” Gon blinked rapidly, “Do they have the keys to the house?”

“I think they mentioned they lost it a while ago!”

Killua yawned, “it’s so early.”

Leorio checked his watch. “It’s eight thirty-four.”

“I thought Kurapika wouldn’t be back until another two days.” Gon said, “Christmas day, right?”

“That’s what I thought too!” Leorio scrambled out of bed, reaching to put on his glasses. “We fell asleep decorating last night!”

“But we didn’t even start putting the surprise together.” Gon said worriedly.

“Shit.” Leorio looked outside the window. Kurapika’s there, standing right outside. “Okay, get up. Start getting the surprise together.”

“What?” Killua groaned, “I thought Kurapika wasn’t supposed to be here… I wanna go back to _sleep_.”

“Well they’re outside for Christ’s sake!” Leorio didn’t want to fuck this up and make them come all the way here for nothing. “Go! Go! Go!” he hauled them off his bed and dragged them outside.

“Alright already!” Killua barked. He’s still getting the sleep out of his system, following after Gon to put the rest of their things together in a hurried manner.

“What’re you gonna do?” Gon asked.

“I-I got an idea.” Leorio said. He casually went up to the door. One of their phones rang loudly. It was Gon’s. He put a finger to his lips.

“Don’t answer it.” He hissed.

The three of them froze, allowing the phone to ring silently. “I’ll stall ‘em. Go!” Leorio took a deep breath, opening the door, slinking right outside and closing it shut quickly.

Kurapika’s standing there, in all their glory. Bamboozled by the decorations haphazardly set up outside. The most glorious one, the sign that had _fuck it_ scribbled on top of a shitton of lights circled around it in the most messy manner they’ve ever seen. Definitely Killua’s doing.

“Hey… babe.” Leorio grinned sheepishly, resting an elbow on the door casually.

“Leorio.” Kurapika responded back, tight-lipped. Leorio fought the urge to shrink at their stern glare.

“C’mon, don’t be like that. Peeks? Baby? The love of my life?”

“Fellow associate.”

“ _You’re seriously gonna do that?_ This early in the morning?!”

“I most certainly will do this early in the morning. In fact, I would’ve left given I suppose you weren’t home. But these… decorations,” They gestured vaguely at the hanging reindeer, the lights, the half-inflated Santa hanging out at the front lawn, the flat, popped reindeers, and the snowman with half its head bitten off.

“It’s a bit too early, don’t cha think?”

Kurapika glared at him murderously, “and who was the one who called me approximately _a hundred and forty-three times_ while I was away?”

“To be fair!” Leorio scowled, “ _we didn’t think you’d come until Christmas!”_

“And your point?”

“Why are you here now?!”

“I’m sorry!” Kurapika gasped, “should I take my _leave_?” their heavy, baffled sarcasm was enough of a wake-up call for Leorio.

“No! No!” He answered, alarmed, “Believe it or not, we’re psyched you’r— I’m psyched you’re here!”

“We.” They affirmed. “Is Killua and Gon here?”

“No.” Leorio lied. “Totally not. Not at all. I think they said they had shit to do in town.” A loud crash inside the house abruptly interrupted their conversation.

“That was just the ladder.” Leorio lied.

Kurapika’s eyes narrowed. “Leorio what is the meaning of this?” they were about to check, but Leorio stopped them, blocking the door with his body.

“Somethin’ musta’ fell. I spent like, all night running about with decorations. Y’know. The sales were pretty crazy!”

“I should check.”

“No you should stay here. So let’s talk. How’s everything been?”

“I don’t have anything to say to you.” Kurapika snarled. They lightly pushed Leorio aside, “please excuse me.”

“I-I’m afraid I can’t let you in, Kurapika!”

“Excuse me?!”

“Funny of you to be entitled to my humble abode when I’m the only one who looks after it while you’re always away!”

Kurapika was scandalized, “take that back Leorio!”

“Nuh-uh.”

“ _Take it back right now._ ”

“This is my damn house!”

Kurapika smacked at his chest and shoved him back, “please move from the door and allow me inside.”

“Oh so it’s also your home now, huh? We’re gonna play that game now? Ignore the fact that I’m mostly payin’ for this shit while you do your busy work?!”

“You asked me if I could live in this house with you!”

Another crash cut in through their scuffling, shuffling around happening inside the house as if there was a riot going on inside. “I know they’re in there Leorio!” Kurapika exclaimed brusquely.

“It’s no one! You’re making things up!”

“Do you take me for an insolent fool?!”

Leorio didn’t care if he had to carry them away from the door physically, even with them kicking and scratching. He refused to let them inside the house, ignoring their cries of protest.

But Kurapika couldn’t be held at bay for very long, given that they weren’t on proper speaking terms with Leorio to begin with.

“I’m sorry! But I can’t let you in the house!” Leorio halfway set them down.

“And why not?!” Kurapika flailed around, Leorio finally lowered them to their feet.

Leorio sighed. “Listen I know we had that stupid fight a while back. I’m also sorry about that.”

Kurapika stopped resisting, looking up at him. “Very generous and mature of you to apologize when you claimed that you’d never want me back here.”

“I literally said the Spiderman mug looked pretty cool to make Gon feel better for not buying it!”

“You know I hate spiders!”

“ _It’s Spiderman_ for Christ’s sake! Everyone loves Spiderman!”

“I do not. The mug was atrocious.”

“I wanted it.”

“I can’t believe this.”

“Please. I take it back. Everything I said.”

“I already specified I wasn’t coming here for _you_.” Kurapika claimed, averting their gaze with an arrogant air to it.

“Be a little more happier to see me. Would you? You did answer my call.”

Kurapika looked at Leorio. He smiled nervously. “Are you sure you’re not planning anything?” they questioned warily.

“No! Not at all!” It’s… also quite chilly out here. He’s freezing his balls off.

“Alright.” Kurapika pretended to walk away from the front lawn. Leorio wondered what the Hell Killua and Gon were doing in there. He was waiting on some kind of signal from them that they were ready, maybe put their face in the window and be discreet about it, use their nen abilities, for fuck’s sake.

He didn’t expect Kurapika to bolt for the door and shove him out the way, Leorio lunging for the door the same time Kurapika did. Leorio cursed himself for leaving the door unlocked. They barged inside.

Nog ribbits.

_“SURPRISE!”_

Killua and Gon are in a particularly festive manner. They tossed on Christmas sweaters. Threw up the sign _WELCOME BACK PIKA_ in bold lettering, hung right on top of the chimney next to their Christmas socks. They both wore matching deer headbands. Handing Kurapika a tiny tree made up of Leorio’s plastic gloves, assembled together in some sort of horrendous colorful fashion.

Kurapika accepted the gift, stunned by the state the house turned into.

“Ta-da…” Leorio smiled bashfully. Gon set off a few party poppers, and Killua blew on the party horn, loud enough to scare Nog into hopping on Gon’s shoulder.

Ribbons fell over Kurapika’s shoulder. They sighed heavily, an uncontrollable snort escaping their lips.

Killua, Gon, and Leorio stopped dead in their tracks. Kurapika was laughing. All of this humored them through their immense shock and their surprise was barely finished, the house left in disarray as the boys scampered around finishing up what they could and did the bare minimum.

“If I’d known this is what I’d come home to…” They caught their breath, removing their hand from their mouth, “then I would’ve surely come home earlier, if I could…”

Killua and Gon’s eyes sparkled.

They lunged for Kurapika, knocking their plastic glove creation out of Kurapika’s hands and enveloping them in a warm, loving embrace.

Leorio scratched the back of his head, sighing. He smiled fondly at their reunion. Gon and Killua are rambling on about their misadventures, working on fixing the house until it was much more suitable, however, Kurapika didn’t seem to mind. Just walking into a warm, comfortable home sounded foreign to them. Though, Leorio could understand. They still lived here.

The smoke detector went off while they were baking cookies and Leorio threw his shoe at it angrily.

“You’re going to burn it.” Kurapika chided.

“It’s so damn loud!” Leorio covered his ears, “scared the shit out of me. Hey, wear oven mitts before you touch anything hot!”

“Smells good!” Gon opened the oven to take a whiff of the cookies.

“They’re not that burnt.” Leorio said. Kurapika took a bite out of it.

“You mean to tell me this isn’t burnt?”

Gon and Killua tried one.

“They seem fine to me.” Gon said. Killua’s already reaching to eat another.

“They’re still too hot—” Leorio gave up on monitoring them, leaning on the counter. “Nevermind.”

Kurapika smiled a little at his exhaustion. “What gifts did you leave under the tree?” they asked the boys.

The gift exchanges were mainly for Kurapika since they were their welcome gifts. However, they also bought things for each other.

They pointed out the burnt part of the rug in confusion, and Leorio, Gon, and Killua had to explain that gathering some wood from outside for the chimney went terribly wrong and the house was almost burnt down. Twice now, through their baking mishaps. They were incredibly entertained by it.

Especially after Killua placed a whoopie cushion on the sofa just as Leorio sat down to talk to Kurapika, and Leorio chased him around the house while they laughed at him.

"Oh, this is a nice tree." Kurapika stopped in front of the tree that the three of them decorated. "When did you do all this?"

"Yesterday!" Gon replied. "The oreo with Leorio's face on it is supposed to be the star."

"I see." Kurapika chuckled. "It's… quite creative, Gon."

"We also got this for you." Gon handed Kurapika a pikachu plush.

"Why thank you."

"You think it's funny to put whoopie cushions on chairs?!" Leorio grabbed Killua by the back of his shirt. "Where did you even get this from?!"

"That one store you said was all sold out. They had some whoopie cushions on sale." Killua said.

"You think you're real funny."

"Meet Nog." Gon lifted Nog in his hands to show to Kurapika. "We got him last month."

"Oh…" Their eyes widened, "so I finally get to meet this legendary pet frog of yours."

"It's ours now!"

Kurapika touched the Santa hat on his head. "Delightful." They smiled.

Gon cheesed brightly.

Killua and Gon put a deer headband on Kurapika’s head, and Leorio’s as well. So that the four of them could match, sharing even more stories about their Christmas shopping nightmare. But quite quickly the rowdiness of the day slowed down as several hours passed. They found Killua's old speaker Leorio had got him to play some tunes. Kurapika took a while to warm up to Leorio, but Leorio didn't mind too much as he did, less bitter to watch Gon take their hands and dance with him and Killua, prancing around the living room and talking their ear off.

Kurapika missed them dearly and it showed in their face through their laughs and fond smiles. Fixing Killua's headband because it kept falling off while he showed Kurapika cool party tricks.

"Where did you learn this from?" Gon asked.

"Illumi."

"No way!"

"Yeah way."

"Show me more." Kurapika requested. They hadn't spared Leorio another glance and mostly interacted with him with icy glares and petty remarks.

"Still mad at me aren't you."

Kurapika drank from their cup, " _positively._ "

"You know I never ended up buying the stupid mug."

"I don't care, Leorio."

"Don't worry." Killua nudged Leorio, "give them a bit. They'll warm up."

"What did you do?" Leorio corked a brow.

"Oh, nothing~" Killua crooned.

Leorio inspected his drink and realized this eggnog was most definitely spiked. They've probably been spending too much time with Zepile while Leorio was slaving away in his studies.

After dancing with Gon, he noticed Kurapika had walked off to wander the house. Leorio left to go look for them. The bedroom was empty. The bathroom's closed. Killua's raiding the kitchen for more snacks and spare candy.

Kurapika’s sitting by the window sill, looking outside.

Leorio slipped away from Killua and Gon’s roughhousing after their gifts had been opened. He still had yet to give Kurapika their gift, offering them a mug of a hot chocolate.

“Oh.” Kurapika acknowledged his presence, taking it. “Thank you. Leorio.”

“You don’t gotta pretend to be all stiff with me.” Leorio sat in front of them, setting the gift beneath his feet. Kurapika’s been dressed in the Christmas sweater as well, and it looked adorable. Although, any comment on it would earn him a smack on the chest and a flush on their cheeks. They’ve changed out of their worn clothes for something more comfortable.

"I have every reason to be."

Dick. Leorio frowned. "...well you seem to be enjoying yourself."

Kurapika tore their gaze from the window, making eye contact with Leorio.

"I am."

"That's… that's good."

The boys are tussling over whatever the Hell they're going on about now. Ransacking the place all over again. "I'll deal with them later." Leorio sighed.

"I see you've done a lot for them." Kurapika said, "while I was… gone…"

"Listen I won't ask what you been up to. That's no one's business but my own." Leorio scratched his cheek, "but I don't… listen!" He exclaimed suddenly, startling them, "don't forget that you still have a home to come back to! No matter what happens, okay?! I don't care how busy you get and how much you leave and ignore everyone's calls."

Eyes widened, Kurapika's face softened. "I… understand."

"Do you?"

"I appreciate it. Everything that you've done for me."

Leorio flushed slightly, averting his gaze as well. "Well I needed to find a way for you to take me back."

Kurapika chuckled. "This is all very overwhelming, so I apologize."

"W-We didn't want you to come home to an empty old boring house yanno?"

Kurapika leaned closer, legs crossed. Leorio faced them. He paused, a chaste peck placed on his lips.

His face reddened like a tomato, blinking. "B-Babe?"

"Because I'm feeling particularly grateful for tonight," Kurapika smiled gently, looking at Gon and Killua playing around, the stars in Killua's eyes whenever he watched Gon. "You're temporarily forgiven."

"So you wanna get back with me."

"Plausible."

"What the Hell does that mean?!" Leorio vexed. Kurapika responded by giving him another kiss, this time, on the cheek.

Killua and Gon have long since stopped doing their own thing, peeking their heads from the couch and smiling knowingly at one another. Mischievous.

They high-fived from under the couch.

"Good thing you managed to convince Kurapika into coming here by making them answer Leorio's calls." Gon said.

"Well I lied and said Leorio was moving." Killua gave Gon a shit-eating grin. "Knew that they'd probably wanna make up and kiss before he leaves, except he's not leaving."

They both snickered to themselves at their master grand plan that'd probably end with Leorio wanting to _kill_ them for making up such a lie. But the two are snuggled up at the window sill, rubbing noses and the hearts in Leorio's eyes and the pleasant smile on Kurapika's face, foreheads pressed together.

"Missed you, Sunshine." Leorio murmured. "Missed you so much."

"No need to, now." Kurapika whispered. "I'm here."

Their fingers laced together.

"Welcome back." Leorio placed a soft kiss on their knuckles.

Nog hopped on the edge of the couch, utterly clueless as to what was going on.

**Author's Note:**

> I might be back with more bullshit, but for now Merry Christmas!!! 🎄💖
> 
> If any of yall wanna find me I'm on my **[twitter](http://twitter.com/danganphobia)** cause that's where I be nowadays.


End file.
